Studies have shown that diets with generous amounts of fruits and vegetables are associated with a low risk of major chronic diseases including cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Dietary guidelines prepared by government organizations recommend five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables per day for providing health-promoting nutrients. The polyphenolic compounds in fruits and vegetables have been connected to the health benefits. These polyphenolic compounds may act as antioxidants, which inhibit the oxygen free radicals and promotion of cancer cells, and which inhibit the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. To be effective as an antioxidant, the polyphenolic compounds must not be oxidized through the enzymic browning reactions in the fruits and vegetables and must be accessible during passage through the gastrointestinal tract.
Apples contain a wide variety of polyphenolic compounds as well as soluble and insoluble fiber. With these attributes, apples should be included in the human diet as an important contributor to human health. The moderate cost, year-round availability, pleasant flavor and color, acceptable balance of sourness to sweetness and the absence of stringy, fibrous vascular tissue are additional benefits of the apple.
If a suitably-processed multipurpose apple base were available as a multi-functional ingredient, a wide variety of food products such as smoothies, fruit sauces, fruit desserts, salsa, soups and salad dressings could be prepared. The multipurpose, multi-functional base would be a viscous matrix within which fruit purees, yogurt, soy milk and other protein dispersions would be incorporated and the resulting mixtures could be used as sauces for the preparation of the above-mentioned food products or could be diluted with juices to create fruit beverages. The wide variety of appealing food products prepared with the apple base would possess the health benefits of the apple.
The goal of this invention was to develop a multipurpose apple base which would have multi-functional properties to be carried through to the resulting mixtures. The required multi-functional properties of the apple base are to be:                1. smooth, non-grainy, non-gummy mouth feel;        2. creamy, viscous texture;        3. compatibility with added fruit purees and protein-containing products;        4. uniform dispersion of hydrated apple cellular particles without syneresis during prolonged storage of the base;        5. glossiness;        6. essentially colorless;        7. clingability and adhesiveness to fruit and vegetable pieces;        8. non-oxidized, polyphenolic compounds;        9. readily available polyphenolic compounds in the human digestive system;        10. solubilized protopectin (pectin).        
The inventors found that when an apple mash consisting of intact single cells was combined with a homogenate composed of fractured single apple cells, an apple base with the above mentioned functional properties was created. This base can be considered as a dispersion with the continuous phase having soluble sugars, pectin, polyphenolic compounds, vitamins and minerals, and with the dispersed phase consisting of size-specific cell wall fragments, protoplasmic microparticles and intact single cells. The inventors also found that the viscosity of the base could be increased by the addition of a water-dispersible gum such as pectin or guar gum without effecting the multi-functional properties.
The requisite apple mash is produced by a sequence of process operations including the steaming of cut apple pieces and the disjoining of the intact cells by moderate mechanical impaction and screening. In addition to the production of intact single cells, protopectin is solubilized as colloidal pectin. During the high-temperature steaming of the apple pieces, the cellular protoplasts are gelatinized to render the cells as elastic bodies which are resistant to break down by the moderate mechanical impaction and screening operations. Also, the steaming of the apple pieces brings about the disruption of the intercellular adhesion in the middle lamellae for the release of individual intact cells.
The steaming of apple pieces brings about the inactivation of the polyphenol oxidase with the benefit of preserving the naturally-occurring, polyphenolic compounds in the unoxidized form and of retaining the colorless or near colorless state of the cells.
When the mash with intact, single cells is subjected to high pressure homogenization, the cell walls break and are fragmented, and the gelatinized protoplasts become microparticularized. The homogenate is a slurry of small, size-specific cell wall fragments and protoplasmic microparticles as the dispersed phase in a continuous phase containing soluble constituents. Accessible unoxidized polyphenolic compounds are also present in the homogenate.
The homogenate has the sensory attributes of smoothness, non-graininess, non-gumminess, and stabilization of added protein nutrients, but lacks creaminess and viscous body. The inventors discovered that when 5 to 50% of the single-cell mash was added to the homogenate to form an apple base, creaminess and a more viscous body can be experienced by sensory analysis. Further, with the addition of mash to the homogenate, the apple base becomes opaque, the level increasing as the mash content rises. It is of interest to note that the slight graininess of apple mash does not carry over to the apple base because of the interaction of the particulates of the homogenate with the grainy cellular aggregates of the mash to form smoother, hydrated surfaces.
Two of the inventors herein have been involved in the development of a universal fruit base which is now the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,546 B1, granted May 7, 2002, of which the contents thereof, as far as they are relevant to the subject invention, are incorporated herein by reference.